Film critic and curator Leo Soesanto heads up the teams behind the Riga International Film Festival’s (RIGA IFF) International and National Short Film Competitions. He will this year be joined by a selection committee made up of accomplished film professionals Nanako Tsukidate, Fairouz M’Silti, and Līga Požarska.

The selection committee will curate both competitions. The films in the final lineup will compete for the festival’s top prizes as well as for the chance to be a candidate for nomination in the European Short Film category at the European Film Awards 2023.

Nanako Tsukidate is a film critic and journalist, and has been a curator at the Venice, Cannes, and Hiroshima film festivals. The experience with international and multicultural films that she has gained from her writing and by programming European films in Japan will be a welcome addition to the selection committee. Also joining the team this year will be film director, screenwriter, critic, and curator Fairouz M’Silti, who currently teaches film curating. After spending a year at the prestigious La Fémis film school (Fondation Européenne pour les Métiers de l’Image et du Son), she is also currently developing her first feature-length film. Līga Požarska is a film publicist and moderator who has been part of the pre-selection process at the Glasgow Short Film Festival. She will be joining the selection committee for a third time.

The selection committee will be overseen by Leo Soesanto, who was on the feature film selection committee for the Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique programme from 2009 to 2015 and chaired the short film selection committee between 2017 and 2021. From 2016 to 2020, he also worked as a curator at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the main destination for auteur cinema.

The RIGA IFF International Short Film Competition is open for submissions until 23:59 on 31 May, while the National Short Film Competition is open for submissions until 23:59 on 30 June. More information: enter.rigaiff.lv.

The Riga International Film Festival will take place for the 9th time from 13 to 23 October this year. RIGA IFF seeks out bright and innovative filmmakers from around the world and showcases their work in six competitions.